17 mo. old son clingy, clingy, clingy

My 17 month old son is driving me cooky! He's sooooo clingy. Even if it's just me at home with him. I'm home with him all day long and even if I put him down to open the fridge he cries. I don't carry him around all day. I mostly listen to him whine all day because he wants me to hold him. Even when we are playing on the floor together he has to sit on me. Not on my lap, but in the hug position. He can't sit next to me without having a melt down. When I get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink he goes into major temper tantrum mode and won't stop until he can sit on me again. Needless to say this is very cute, but getting very difficult.

He's good when I'm gone. So, it seems like he's almost worse when I'm with him because he wants to literally be sitting on me / hugging 24/7. He's like a velcro monkey. :)

I've heard that boys are more clingy than girls, but this is getting a little ridiculous. I don't mind that he's clingy when other people are around, but if it's just me and him it's even harder because I don't understand why he's freaking that I'm not holding him.

I'm trying to embrace this as much as possible, but I'd like to be able to stand up and stretch my legs without having my kid go into a major melt down!! Plus, my back can't take it.

P.S. Like I said, though, I don't carry him around or let him sit on top of me 24/7. Maybe only 30% of the time. I pretty much listen to him whine the rest of the time, which is trying to say the least.

Comments (12)

We are going through a little bit of this too with our 16 month old son! it is driving me NUTS!!! I have been trying to ick him up give him kisses/hugs and then firmly put him down and go about my day!

A friend of mine has 17 month old boy/girl twins and is going through the exact same thing right now with her son. When my son was around 15 months old he did it too. I really think it's a phase and/or related to teething. I know this doesn't help much, but my son seemed to grow out of it around 18 months.

My son is like this, too. He's not a good sleeper and is used to sleeping with one of us or having one of us soothe him to sleep...don't get me started! I think this age, 17-18 mos, they're going through a lot of development, plus separation anxiety peaks, teething, etc. If you can stand the crying, try leaving him on the ground for small amounts of time, and gradually increasing the time you leave him down on his own. If I do this and stay upbeat, my son usually gets the hint and will sit near me and entertain himself for a short amount of time.

yes its very difficult as my 16month old daughter is the same. She would happily pass the day away in my arms. My 2 yr old was the same at that age and I look at her now so independant. I do believe you need to give them a certain amount of attention so that they don't crave it too much but then you have to get balance right and listen to a little whining from time to time. In some small way I see her getting a little better and more confident to go off playing on her own. But its definetly a phase and will soon pass. That much I do know. My 2 yr old hardly comes near me all evening so it will get easier....Good Luck

My son is starting to go through the same thing he turned 17 months yesterday and lately he screams when I take a poo diaper outside to the trash and he doesn't want my DH to read him books or put him to bed anymore. I tell him take the book to daddy he says no and starts crying. It's not too bad I hope it doesn't get any worse. Good luck with yours.

My DS is going through this too and it is making me nuts, but I recently discovered that the alternative is worse. About a week ago, my DS pulled the lamp in the living room over. It has a big glass shade that exploded. I freaked out and screamed and ran and grabbed him to try to keep him from the flying glass. Luckily, he was fine. No glass at all, but I scared him horribly.

After that, he not only didn't cling, but he wanted nothing to do with me for over 24 hours.

Now, he's back to clinging and I'm just really grateful. I would like to get some things done, but having gone without the clinging for a day, I'm enjoying the closeness a lot more right now.